Distracted Driving- Fatigue- Whole-Body Vibrations

Distracted driving, while a legitimate safety concern, is fast becoming the latest “cause” for safety experts, the press, legislators and regulators to rally around. Scope of the Problem; The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that at least 21% of police-reported crashes involve some form of driver inattention. In 2008, they have estimated that nearly 6,000 people died in crashes involving distracted driving. It can be difficult to properly establish “cause” in distracted driving accidents, and the actual number may be much higher depending on how you interpret the data.

Distracted driving is any activity a person engages in that has the potential to distract him or her from their main duty of driving & increase the risk of a crash. There are three main types of driving distraction:

Visual –90%-95% of all the information you receive while doing any activity is brought to you visually- through your eyes. Taking your eyes off the road is a major distraction.

Manual – You feel the road through your hands, feet and seat to get a lot of the information for driving. Taking your hands off the wheel is a distraction.

Cognitive –You use all of the information gathered and make informed decisions in everything we do. Taking your mind off what you are doing, driving, is a distraction.

As we are driving, working, or whatever- we

search for things that might be a problem to us

identify the problem

predict the possible outcomes

decide what we are going to do to get out of the problem

execute the process

Studies show that in some situations, a driver will search, identify, predict, decide, and execute the process up to 200 times per mile.

Curves in the road, road narrowing, traffic in every direction, animals, kids, driveways, side roads, weather….. You are or should be continually assessing your situation for anything that may pose to be a future problem.

There are some very basic causes of fatigue. Lack of sleep or poor quality sleep is often compounded by poor diet, being overweight, lack of exercise, and consuming alcohol. In our daily lives it is sometimes difficult to eat a balanced diet, get adequate exercise, or even have restful sleep. A long road trip, or driving for a living, can create even greater obstacles to our well-being. This is why we need to take an active part in prevention when it comes to driving in a tired or distracted state.

One thing that is never mentioned as a stressor in our life is- Whole-Body Vibrations.

We are more tired at the end of our shift than at the beginning. Why?

You may be one that exerts a lot of energy throughout the day, then that’s a good reason to be tired. Driving a truck, front-end loader or a bull dozer on the other hand, doesn’t take super strength or a lot of energy. It takes finesse, a lot of hand-eye coordination, and intelligence to properly operate these machines. However, you are exhausted at the end of the day.

Vibrations, whether it is in one muscle or your entire body, cause you stress and strain. Stress and Strain causes fatigued bodies, and ultimately causing fatigued minds.

Operating any of our equipment creates vibrations, from the engine, to chuck holes, and un-even terrain. It is the total of all vibrations that our bodies endure on a daily basis, and most of the time when we are sitting for extended periods.

Ask yourself how long you sit in your truck, and other equipment. How many times do you climb down and take a break?

Key to eliminate this source of stress is simple. Reduce the exposure to vibrations by taking breaks and walk around for a minute or so. Give your muscles a minute to recondition, to calm down. The longer you’re in one spot feeling vibrations the longer the break needs to be.

When you fatigue your muscles and become tired, you fatigue your mind. When your mind is fatigued you can’t search, identify, predict, decide, and execute the processes of driving “up to 200 times per mile”. Thus, you become a risky driver/ operator.

Last thing I want to leave you with is to exercise and be in shape for your work. It can be as easy as starting your day with a few simple stretches-

Hands- Forwards and backwards for 10 seconds each

Shoulders- Forwards, back and over your head for 10 seconds each

Neck- Forward, back and side to side 10 seconds.

Back- Forward, back and side to side 10 seconds.

Calves- Leaning with your hands on a wall, step back and stretch the calf.

Thighs- Lift and hold your foot behind you as close to your rear as you can.

This at least gets the muscles warmed up and motivated for the day. After that, be sure and step down off of your equipment at least once per hour to eliminate the vibrations for a minute or two. Stay safe my friends.